Thursday, February 07, 2013

EU Unlikely
to Brand Hizbullah a Terrorist Organization

by Elad Benari - ArutzSheva 77 February 2013

The European Union is unlikely to
bow to U.S. pressure to brand Hizbullah a terrorist organization in the wake of
EU member Bulgaria blaming the terror group for an attack that killed five
Israeli tourists, diplomats said Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry on Tuesday urged the EU to follow Washington's lead by designating
Hizbullah as terrorists in a move that will notably lead to a crackdown on its
fund-raising activities.

AFP reported that Britain is among EU member
states in favor, but with key countries like France and Italy reluctant to
countenance such a move, there is little prospect of achieving the consensus
required for a change of policy in the 27-member EU.

A Foreign Office
spokesman in London said the right response to the Bulgarian investigation would
be to subject Hizbullah military wing to the EU's terrorism asset freezing
regime.

"Designation would send out a clear message that we condemn the
terrorist activities of its military wing and that terrorist actions on European
soil will not go unpunished," the spokesman added, according to AFP.

Hizbullah has been on a U.S. terror blacklist since 1995 after a series
of anti-American attacks, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy and Marine
barracks in Beirut in the 1980s.

A well-informed diplomatic source in
Brussels told AFP that France was the most influential opponent of the EU
aligning itself with the US position, but the reservations in Paris are shared
by Italy, Cyprus and Malta.

Italy is a major contributor to the UN peace
force in Lebanon, making it sensitive to the risk of reprisals, but its position
is also based on a view of Hezbollah as a legitimate political force, the report
said.

On Tuesday, Bulgaria officially blamed Hizbullah for the Burgas
terror attack last July, in which five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver
were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a tourist bus.

An
EU source told AFP Bulgaria's ambassador in Brussels had informed his EU
counterparts of the investigation's findings at a meeting on Wednesday.

There was no request from any member state for the special EU working
party that works on this question to be convened.

"This working party
usually meets in May and November to review the terrorist list but a meeting
could be called earlier. However Hizbullah has never been proposed for inclusion
in recent years," the source said.

Hizbullah,
meanwhile, accused Israel on Wednesday of waging an “international
campaign” against it.

Naim Kassem, the terror group’s second in command,
slammed the “international campaign of intimidation waged by Israel against
Hizbullah,” adding that it is “ever improving its equipment and training” in
order to bring about the destruction of the Jewish state.

“[T]hese
charges will change nothing,” he said, referring to the Bulgarian investigation.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday evening with
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and thanked him for the thorough and professional
investigation into the terrorist bombing in Burgas.

Netanyahu told
Borissov, "The findings of the investigation are clear and prove that Hizbullah
was responsible for the atrocity in Burgas. This is an additional indication
that Iran, through its proxies, is conducting a global terrorist campaign that
crosses borders and continents.

“I hope that the Europeans will draw the
necessary conclusions regarding the true character of Hizbullah after this
criminal attack on European soil against an EU member state,” he added.